


Wasted

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24029728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Jack's drinking habits concern Alex, so Alex decides to talk to his friend.
Kudos: 3





	Wasted

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request!

“Hey, where’s Jack?” Alex asked, walking into the front lounge of the bus.  
“He’s still in his bunk,” Rian replied, taking a sip of his coffee.   
“Really? It’s already past noon, he normally doesn’t sleep this late,” Alex pointed out.  
“Aren’t you just now waking up?” Zack asked.  
“No, I’ve been up for a few hours now, I’ve been doing some songwriting in the back lounge,” Alex explained, holding up his songbook.   
“I’m not surprised that Jack’s still in bed, he was up late drinking last night. He didn’t get into his bunk until after three, and he sounded pretty hammered. I’d guess that he’s got the worst hangover ever right now,” Rian stated.  
“Shit, he was up that late? That show we played wiped me out, that’s why I crashed so early,” Zack said back.  
“That’s not good that he got that fucked up. Have you guys noticed that he’s drank a lot on this tour?” Alex asked his friends.  
“He drinks a lot on every tour,” Zack causally replied.  
“He’s always drank more than us, Alex. Well, you do give him a run for his money sometimes, but he usually does have the most,” Rian added.  
“I know, but I feel like it’s been more of a drastic difference this tour. A few shows back, he went onstage absolutely shitfaced. I know he usually drinks to have a buzz onstage, but he took it a lot farther than normal,” Alex explained, starting to sound worried.  
“I guess I picked up on that, too,” Zack agreed.  
“You’ve got a point there, Alex. Do you think he’s got an actual problem?” Rian asked.  
“I don’t really know, I know life has been a bit tough for him over the past year, but I think he’s drinking to cope with it. For a while, I thought I was just overthinking all of this, but these past few shows have really gotten me concerned. He’s also been saying a lot of negative shit about himself recently, too. I’m a bit worried about him,” Alex confessed.  
“I think that you may have a point there, Alex,” Rian replied.  
“I really don’t want something bad to happen to him. I don’t want him to drink too much and have it affect his health, and I don’t want him being bombed to result in him making really bad choices. What should we do?” Alex asked his friends.  
“I think that you should talk to him, Alex,” Zack replied.  
“Just me? Shouldn’t it be all three of us talking to him?” Alex continued.  
“I think Zack’s right, it should just be you. I think it’ll freak him out if all three of us sit him down about this. Besides, you two are best friends, I think this talk coming from you will mean a lot more to him. Also, this is all totally based on your observations, for the most part,” Rian explained.  
“I guess you guys are right, I’ll talk to him alone, but not until after the show tonight, I don’t want him to get pissed at me, and have the whole day ruined because of it. We have an off day tomorrow, so if he’s mad then, it won’t matter as much for us as a band,” Alex decided.  
“Sounds like a plan, Alex,” Zack replied.   
Seconds later, they heard loud footsteps coming towards the front lounge, and they instantly knew who the footsteps belonged to.  
“Hey Jack, what’s up, buddy?” Rian asked as Jack walked into the front lounge, looking terrible.  
“I have the worst hangover ever,” Jack whined, putting a hand to his head. Alex quickly stood up, then walked over to his friend.  
“I’ll take you over to the couch, then get you some pain medication, sound good?” Alex offered.  
“That sounds fantastic,” Jack replied, letting Alex guide him over to the small couch against the window. Alex grabbed a red Gatorade, and a couple Advil’s, then took them over to Jack.  
“This should help you feel better,” Alex said as Jack took the medicine.  
“Thanks, Alex, I appreciate it. This is the worst hangover I’ve had in a while,” Jack admitted, still holding his head.  
“How much did you drink last night, man?” Rian asked back.  
“I don’t really remember, to be honest. All I know, is that everything hurts, and I feel insanely dehydrated,” Jack weakly replied.  
“Are you going to be okay by the time we get to the venue? We have about an hour left of this drive,” Zack stated.  
“Hopefully,” Jack said in reply.  
“Well, drink that Gatorade, and we’ll do what we can to help you feel better until we get there,” Alex promised.  
“Thank you, you guys are the best,” Jack replied with a small smile.  
“We try to be. Now, drink that Gatorade and relax,” Alex instructed. Jack took another small sip of his drink, then put a hand to his head, wincing in pain.   
Alex let out a quiet sigh; he knew they all had a long day in front of them.  
\------------------------  
It was ten minutes until showtime, and for the first time in years, Alex felt nervous to go onstage. He wasn’t nervous about messing up, but about how Jack would be for their set. They jumped into soundcheck right when they got to the venue, and it was very obvious that Jack was still hungover; he wasn’t playing as well as everyone knew that he could, and his head was still pounding, which made him feel very unwell.   
Alex had hoped that Jack would just rest in the green room until it was showtime, and stay sober for the day, but some of the crew had gone out and gotten Jack more alcohol, as per his request, so he could cure his hangover by getting wasted. The four of them were used to performing tipsy, but Alex couldn’t remember a time where Jack had performed as bombed as he currently was, intensifying his anxieties about Jack’s drinking.   
Once Alex decided that he was ready to go onstage, he walked out to the stage entrance, where his bandmates were waiting with their instruments. After grabbing his guitar from his tech, Alex went over to his friends.  
“Okay, who’s ready for this show?” Alex asked, trying to hype everybody up.  
“It’s going to be great!” Rian replied with a smile.  
“It’s going to be the best one yet!” Jack slurred back.   
Alex really wasn’t sure how this show was going to go with Jack being as inebriated as he was, but he took a deep breath, and hoped that he was just overthinking things. Seconds later, they got their cue to go onstage, so they walked on and took their places before starting into the first song of their set.   
Jack messed up more than he usually did during their first few songs, but the other three did their best to cover up Jack’s mistakes. After their fifth song, it was time for some banter.  
“You guys have been amazing so far!” Alex exclaimed into his microphone, earning some cheers from the fans.  
“They really have been, these kids fucking rule!” Jack added, his slurred words earning more applause.   
Even though the fans were into it, Alex was embarrassed by how shitfaced Jack clearly was, and started into the next song sooner than usual.   
Throughout the rest of their set, Jack continued to mess up and stumble around the stage, but Alex could tell that his good mood had faded over time. He didn’t engage with Alex in the banter like he usually did, and by the time they were playing Dear Maria, he looked very down.  
“We’ve been All Time Low, thankyou guys so much for coming out, we’ll see you next time!” Alex yelled as the fans started to cheer again.   
Alex turned, and saw Jack quickly walk offstage once they were done playing and felt concerned for his friend. After interacting with the crowd some, Alex left the stage and was told that Jack had gone to the bus.   
Alex quickly walked out of the venue, and got onto the bus, and could immediately hear crying coming from the back lounge. Concerned, Alex made his way there, and saw Jack laying on the couch with his face in a pillow, crying some. Alex quietly walked over to the couch and sat on the floor by Jack’s head.  
“Hey, are you okay, buddy?” Alex carefully asked, putting a hand on Jack’s back. Jack slowly turned his head to look at his friend and did his best to wipe the tears from his eyes.  
“I’m fine,” Jack replied, his voice cracking.  
“Yeah, you definitely seem it. Why did you go offstage so fast?” Alex continued. He helped Jack sit up some, then sat next to his friend on the couch.  
“I fucked up so badly out there, Alex. Like, I couldn’t play through a single song without making a mistake,” Jack replied, as Alex put an arm around him.  
“I know, maybe you shouldn’t drink so much before we go on again,’ Alex suggested.  
“Yeah, we’ll see about that. I could go for another drink right now, so I can try and forget about tonight,” Jack said back.  
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. Why have you been drinking so much recently, Jack? I know we usually drink a lot on tour, but you’ve had a lot more than usual lately,” Alex pointed out.  
“It’s stupid, we don’t have to talk about it,” Jack replied, sounding embarrassed.  
“Jack, I’ve been really concerned about how much you’ve been drinking. Like, the amount you’ve drank isn’t healthy, it’s like you’re trying to drink yourself to death. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, you’re my best friend, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you, and I didn’t try to help. Please, tell me what’s going on?” Alex tried, sounding genuinely concerned for his friend.  
“It’s been a rough few months for me. I know you know this, but my ex and I broke up, and that really messed with my head. I’ve been down about things before, but I’ve never felt so depressed in my life,” Jack explained, more tears slipping from his eyes.  
“I’m sorry that breakup has been so hard for you to deal with, and I’m sorry that I didn’t try to help you more when it happened,” Alex replied, hugging Jack closer to him.   
“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault that I didn’t tell you. I really thought that I’d be able to handle it on my own. Like, I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t think it’d be this hard. When things started to get unbearable, I started to drink a lot more than I usually do, because it numbed me, and it let me forget about my problems for a while. It’s started to feel like I can’t function without that numb feeling, because my head feels so fucked up when I’m sober. That’s why I’ve been drinking so much during this tour, I’m sorry for concerning you so much, I just didn’t want to deal with reality,” Jack explained.  
“I’m glad you told me about all of this, I really want to help you through this, man. I wish we weren’t on tour right now, so you could focus on helping yourself get better,” Alex said back.  
“I’m actually glad we’re on tour, playing shows is a nice distraction, too. That’s why I got so upset about fucking up so much, music is usually my escape, and it wasn’t tonight. I shouldn’t have drank that much before a show, I should’ve known that there was no way I would’ve been able to play well while that drink,” Jack continued.  
“Well, now you know, and you can learn from your mistakes,” Alex pointed out.  
“I learned quite the lesson tonight. I almost feel like I should just be sober for a while, but that’s so hard to do when everyone around me is drinking,” Jack replied.  
“You know what, I’ll go sober with you,” Alex decided.  
“Yeah right, you love to drink on tour,” Jack said with a laugh.  
“That’s true, but I love you and our friendship more, and I don’t want something bad to happen to you. If not drinking will help you, which I think it will, but you need someone to help hold you accountable, I’d love to be that person. Seeing you drink so much lately has scared me, so I really do want to help you, man. What do you say?” Alex offered. Jack took a deep breath before speaking.  
“That sounds great to me, thank you so much. Sorry I’ve been so shitty lately,” Jac replied.   
“You’ve not been shitty, you’ve been feeling shitty, but we’ll get through this together, I promise,” Alex stated, making both of them smile.  
“Do you want to watch a movie together?” Alex suggested.  
“I’d love that,” Jack said back. With that, the two of them quickly changed out of what they wore onstage and got comfortable in the back lounge before putting on a movie that they both enjoyed.   
Alex was glad that he’d talked to Jack, and that his friend was going to start trying to go in a positive direction. While Alex wished that he could’ve done something sooner, he was happy that Jack trusted him and had accepted his help. Alex knew that getting Jack into a better place would be a long journey, but he was more than happy to help his best friend through it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is a request for someone on my Tumblr! I've actually always really liked writing fics that deal with what this one does, but I think that's the aspiring therapist in me lol. I've still got a couple more requests to finish up, but always feel free to send in more ideas, I love writing for you guys! I hope that you all liked this one, and there will be another new fic up on Thursday! Lots of love, Liv.


End file.
